Mulberries

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Mulberries aren't berries botanically; each mulberry is actually a cluster of tiny fruit (as are raspberries.) They range from dark red to black in colour. They are very fragile and can crush easily.

A mulberry tree, depending on the variety, can grow up to 70 feet tall (21 metres.) From seed, the tree needs about 10 years before it starts bearing fruit. The flowers are not very spectacular: the BBC's "Plant Finder" database kindly refers to them as "inconspicuous." They are called "catkins"; they look something like a sheep's tail. Male catkins are longer than female ones. Though there are varieties of Mulberry trees that don't produce any fruit, most produce fruit in abundance and without much effort, because the flowers can just be pollinated by the wind. The fruit looks somewhat like blackberries. Fruit from the Himalayan Mulberry ("Morus macroura") can be close to two inches (5 cm) long.

Unfortunately, it's a fruit that nobody wants. Though you've probably seen a recipe using Mulberries at some point in your travels, or at least, think that you must have -- when was it? How many have you seen? Truth is, there just aren't that many.

Mulberries have several problems. The first is an ironic one, in a way. Mulberries grow all over the place, particularly, it seems, at the sides of lanes, driveways, and sidewalks. The reason for this is that there the seeds from bird droppings can grow undisturbed.

So, there's this free fruit in vast quantities all over the place: almost everyone must know at least one place where an unclaimed, unharvested Mulberry tree grows. We are all very hesitant though about gathering and eating anything that we aren't exactly 100% sure of. Our grandmothers might have been able to look at them and say, "Yup, mulberries", and move onto the next topic. We though, didn't get taught how to be sure of things growing outside: we were taught how to read signs at supermarkets and check your receipts when you got home. And not eating things from the wild that you aren't 100% sure of is generally a good rule of thumb: after all, if you follow that rule, you're still around to be reading this right now. So, even though Mulberries grow everywhere in abundance, and they're free, not many people are likely to gather them because even though they might suspect the fruit is Mulberries, they don't know for sure.

Even when you do know for sure, a whole host of other problems arises.

First, Mulberries are hard to harvest. The trees grow so tall that it's hard to get at the fruit. Those who do harvest the berries recommend placing a cloth or plastic sheet on the ground, and shaking a limb of the tree. The second problem is that the fruit is a very soft berry: a Mulberry makes a raspberry seem like a tough, durable fruit. When Mulberries hit the ground, they moosh. You could drop one on a pile of feathers and it would moosh. Thirdly, the green stem on the berries is hard to remove, because it goes all the way through the fruit. You can't get the stems out without the fruit squishing on you into a pulp. Leaving it in isn't really an option, because the stem doesn't soften with cooking . But to make a pie or dessert with mulberries, you would have to remove the stems from all those small berries, unless you plan to pass dental floss around the table for everyone to pry stems out from between their teeth. And the final straw, as it were, is that the taste isn't great. The taste will be astringent, in an unpleasant, almost bitter way when not completely ripe, and when it is ripe, that disappears leaving behind just blandness. So it's a lot of effort for not much taste.

The only way to really use them is to cook them down into a juice, which you then strain to leave the stems behind. Then you need to sweeten them to give them some interest -- usually white sugar is used -- and then add something such as lemon to wake up the taste. The juice is usually made into a jelly. That, though is another challenge, because Mulberries have almost no pectin: you definitely have to add pectin.

The final kicker is that the juice stains everything. If you harvest them, your fingertips will be stained for days. And you don't want to be the poor soul in charge of laundry who has to try to get the stains out of clothes; it's nigh on impossible.

So, instead of being one of the bounties of nature that everyone looks forward to, people curse Mulberries. Birds eat them and then poop the seeds out in blue streaks all over the place. The fruit makes sidewalks slippery and treacherous; it gets squished onto the bottoms of shoes to be tracked into the house all over your broadloom. Nope, not a lot going for them: we may change our minds one way if ever our normal food channels get disrupted or rationing is imposed, at which point no doubt some government Home Economist will write a chirpy article extolling their benefits, but until then, they are the fruit no one wants.

In Asia, in fact, Mulberry Trees are mostly grown for their leaves, to feed to silkworms. There are more agricultural stats on Mulberry leaves harvests than there are on the berries.

Mulberries are not sold in markets. Leaving aside there being no commercial demand, they are such a soft fruit that they won't survive harvesting, packaging and shipping.


Mulberry Wine

To make Mulberry Wine, Mulberries are usually mixed with grapes for flavour and body, as they don't have much of either on their own. The Mulberry Wine needs to be stored in dark bottles in dark places because its colour is very sensitive to light.


Black Mulberry

The Black Mulberry ("morus nigra") has larger fruit that has somewhat more taste than other mulberries. The fruit ripens from green to red to dark purple.

The tree can grow up to 70 feet tall (21 metres), but usually stays around 30 feet (9 metres.) The trees are native to Asia. They have been grown in Europe for hundreds of years.


Red Mulberry

Red Mulberry ("morus rubra") is native to Eastern North America. In some places it is listed as a threatened species. The berries ripen to red.


White Mulberry

The White Mulberry tree ("morus alba"), is sometimes referred to as the North American Mulberry. This is a sign of its success: it's actually native to China, but it has become so naturalized in North America that some think it is indigenous. In fact, it has done so well that in some spots it is treated as an invasive weed. People don't seem to mind the tree itself, but all up and down and across the continent its fruit stains driveways, patios and kitchen floors, as kids and dogs inevitably track it into the house.

White Mulberry trees grow up to about 35 feet tall and 40 feet wide (10 metres x 12 metres.) A single tree can have up to 3 different leaf shapes: heart-shaped, lobed or shaped like a child's mitten. The fruit ripens from green to red to purple and then black.

This is the variety used in China to grow silkworms on.

Cooking Tips
Use as you would blackberries or raspberries. Mulberries will stain concrete and counter tops with ease, so you can imagine what they will do to your clothes or false teeth if you're not careful.

Many tiny bugs are often amongst the clusters; soak briefly in water first before using to flood the critters out.

Some people eat the berries fresh, but you end up with a lot of tough, green stems that you have to pick out of your mouth.

Nutrition
Per 100g: 1.5g protein, .5g fat, 8.3 g carbohydrate, 13mg Vitamin C.

Equivalents
1 1/2 gallons of Mulberries = 1 gallon of juice.

Also called:
Morus spp (Scientific Name); Mūres du mūrier (French); Maulbeeren (German); More di gelso (Italian); Moras (Spanish); Amora (Portuguese) Top...